''October Moth'' is a 1960 British

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-g ...

directed by

John Kruse John Kruse (1921–2004) was an English film and television screenwriter, director and novelist. He is mostly remembered for his work on ITC classic TV series ''The Saint'', as well as several films of the franchise, and as the author of the b ...

and starring

Lana Morris Lana Morris, born Avril Maureen Anita Morris (11 March 1930 – 28 May 1998) was a British film, stage and television actress during the 1950s and 1960s. She played the role of Helene Hillmer in the 1967 BBC adaptation of ''The Forsyte Saga ...

and

Lee Patterson Lee Patterson (March 31, 1929 – February 14, 2007) was a Canadian film and television actor. Life and career Patterson was born in Vancouver, British Columbia, as Beverley Frank Atherly Patterson. He attended the Ontario College of Art and D ...

. It was made at

Beaconsfield Studios Beaconsfield Film Studios is a British television and film studio in Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire. The studios were operational as a production site for films in 1922, and continued producing films - and, later, TV shows - until the 1960s. Bri ...

as a

second feature A B movie or B film is a low-budget commercial motion picture. In its original usage, during the Golden Age of Hollywood, the term more precisely identified films intended for distribution as the less-publicized bottom half of a double featur ...

for distribution by

Rank Rank is the relative position, value, worth, complexity, power, importance, authority, level, etc. of a person or object within a ranking, such as: Level or position in a hierarchical organization * Academic rank * Diplomatic rank * Hierarchy * H ...

Plot

In an isolated Yorkshire farm house, a deranged young man (Lee Patterson) imagines a car crash victim (Sheila Raynor) is his long deceased mother. Meanwhile, his sister Molly (Lana Morris), attempts to summon help for the unconscious woman, but against her brother's wishes.

Cast

as Molly *

as Finlay *

Peter Dyneley Peter Dyneley (13 April 1921 – 19 August 1977) was a British actor. Although he appeared in many smaller roles in both film and television, he is best remembered for supplying the voice of Jeff Tracy for the 1960s "Supermarionation" TV series ...

as Tom *

Robert Cawdron Robert Cawdron (29 December 1921 – 14 September 1997) was a French-born British film and television actor. Often cast as police officers, he had a long-running role on ''Dixon of Dock Green'' as Detective Inspector Cherry.The Guinness Book of ...

as Police Constable *

Sheila Raynor Sheila Raynor (15 March 190617 February 1998) was a British actress. She appeared in Jack Clayton's adaptation of ''Room at the Top (1959 film), Room at the Top''. One of her notable roles was that of Alex's (Malcolm McDowell) mother in ''A Clock ...

as The Woman

Critical reception

TV Guide TV Guide is an American digital media company that provides television program Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or t ...

'' wrote, "Had this been done with some sensitivity, it could have been an interesting drama. However, the treatment here is depressing, catering to the basest elements of melodramatic structure, and it ends up a second-rate production"; whereas more recently, the ''psychtronickinematograph'' called the film "a tight and taut little psychodrama that packs a lot of character orientated punch into its brief (like the lifecycle of the lepidopterous insect of the title) 54 minute span."

References

Bibliography

* Palmer, Scott. ''British Film Actors' Credits, 1895-1987''. McFarland, 1998.

External links

* 1960 films British drama films 1960 drama films Films scored by Humphrey Searle Films shot at Beaconsfield Studios British black-and-white films Films set in Yorkshire 1960s English-language films 1960s British films {{1960s-UK-film-stub